AndyPan
June 9th, 2008, 16:31
I am looking for players to play in an extended campaign adventure centering on the Red Hand of Doom super module put out some time ago. Took me most of the last couple months, working on adding text, personalities, and redrawing maps, but it is ready to go. I have posted for players before, and the post has always been an extensive one, detailing requirements and the like for the game. And this one will be no different... :-)
1.) Start Time: I'd like to begin running the module early in July. As I have a Monday game running already, and my Saturday game has recently folded, I am thinking I would like to hold game sessions on Fridays, to start play around 7:00 PM, Eastern Time. This would be a weekly schedule. Please note, this is a "set in stone" time table. Do not sign up for this game if this is not a workable time for your schedule. I do not want a bunch of "Oh, I want to play, but I can't play until 9:00. Can you make the start time for that?" or "I need to put my kid to bed, so I can't start until 8:00. Can't you start the game at that time instead?" There will be no compromises. I have my own schedule I need to work around, as well, and the time above has been what's worked best for me for some time.
2.) Setting: Though the adventure is not campaign world specific, I will be setting the module in Eberron. A working knowledge of the campaign world is preferred for players signing on to the game.
3.) Allowed Content: I am usually pretty loose as far as what I allow as playable in my games. This, of course, has the tendency to bite me in the ***. That being said, I will allow mostly anything that is available in an OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED source. Meaning, if it's in an official sourcebook, AND I have said sourcebook, it will be allowed. The one caveat to this will be that if I think the character would be too powerful or will outclass or overshadow the other characters, I will exercise veto rights. I have had too much experience with a single player's character, either by design or circumstance, becoming the star of the show. This is a situation I would prefer to avoid.
4.) Content NOT Allowed: No content from magazines, such as Dragon or Dungeon, will be allowed or considered. No homebrew content will be allowed or considered. No varients to class or race will be allowed or considered. There is enough considerable content out there in published sources that it's unnecessary to needlessly complicate things with outside content. Again, this is just coming from experience.
5.) Party Makeup: I would like to keep the total amount of characters to four (4), preferably in a fighter/healer/thief/mage mix. Whether this is one character to a player, or two players playing a couple characters each. Also, I prefer players to be 18 or older. As my games tend to get pretty graphic, I like to gear my games toward a more mature audience. And trust me, I WILL ask.
6.) Contact Info: When signing up for the game, please provide a valid email address. I email all players the day before or the day of the game session with a reminder of the day and time of the next game session. Communcation is key to a successful gamign group, IMO, and it's a tool I use a lot. If players are unable to attend a session, I like to be informed before game time so arrangements can be made for the character to be played by another player, or the character to be made "unavailable" for the session.
7.) Roleplay vs. Hack-n-Slash: This should be further up on the list, but I am writing these in as they occur to me. Much of my games are roleplay heavy. In fact, in looking over the RHoD module, there are many parts that are exclusively roleplay. With that in mind, I ask that only serious players apply. If your game style focuses solely on "hack-n-slash" then my games are not for you. I encourage and award excellent roleplay, so be prepared to act your role.
8.) More on Content: Please, know your characters well. If your character has a paticular skill set that is in any way unusual, please know how it's played, and be prepared to provide the source of the info upon request. If you're pulling some off some strange maneuver granted by a feat, I'd like to be able to ask you for sourcebook and page number of the info and have it provided in a snap. Nothing bogs a game down more than a player having to look for the obscure rule they are employing inorder to provide the DM with that info. I may have virtually every book published, but I don't have them memorized. On a related note, although I think I am a somewhat decent DM, I will admit that there are many things even in the core books that I may be unfamilar with, either by their general obscurity or the fact that I just don't use that particular rule. In past and current games, my players have been gracious enough to clarify a rule that I may not be familar with, which is something I appreciate.
That being said, no rules lawyering, please! If, for whatever reason, I make a decision that may run contrary to the rules as written, please accept that perhaps there is a reason for it, and let it go. I will not argue at length with a player who insists that such and such should be done a certain way. I look at running a game like directing a play, a play that only I know what happens in the next act. Yes, I will roll with the punches and try to adjust the "play" to match the PCs choices and actions, but I will sometimes manipulate things to get the story back on track. I never go so far as to railroad the game play, but I also don't wish to rewrite the adventure entirely because the players have gone so far off course as to make it unplayable as written.
9.) Voice Chat: In the last couple of games I've run/played, we've made use of the Ventrilo voice chat. It has been a great tool in speeding up game play, as most OOC chatter can be done over the microphone, leaving the FG chat to game play solely. Granted this does have the disadvantage of making the chatlog woefully vague for reading back, but I think the gain in expediting things is a tremendous boon to keeping things moving along. Now, I am looking at keeping this option viable for the new game (I don't actually have my own server, but a friend who's server we've been using up to this point has generously offered his server to me for this new game), so please have a mic available to you if you sign on.
10.) Now this should DEFINITELY have been higher up on this list, but it's already too long and I don't feel like renumbering everything. Red Hand of Doom starts with the characters being at 5th level. All characters will be built to 5th level, with adjustment to stats and gear as required. Character gold is of course as allowed by character, based on class, and as stated for the level. I know there are rules for magic items and the max limit any one item can cost for a character at that level. But I don't have my books with me at the moment, so couldn't tell you what that is. Can figure that out later. For ability scores, I usually like to have them rolled, and I like to witness the rolls. However, I will allow either 32-point buy, or blind "4d6-drop-the-lowest" score rolling. I will look over the scores, and if I notice anything unusual, like 18's across the board or an equally unbalanced character build, I will ask the scores to be rerolled, which I WILL witness. Otherwise, go nuts.
Whew! I think that might be it. The above probably seems more like a rant than game info, especially when I compare it to some of the game announcement posts I see on this forum. I suppose that, in a way, it probably is. I have been watching the boards for the last several months, and there have been a multitude of posts regarding the lack of people willing to run games, or the inconsistency with player attendance. I myself have been plagued with players who sign up for games, attend one, and then disappear into the ether without a word. Or the player who starts the game knowing the scheduled time, but is either consistently late or has an alternating schedule, but neglects to mention that when signing on. All this leads to things being unfair to the other players, who now have to run an extra character they had no hand in creating, or wait until another player can be added to the roster. It's frustrating, and it's my hope that by carefully detailing these items in advance, most of these problems can be avoided.
SO! If I haven't lost you by now, or left you thinking I am a total touch-hole, please drop me a PM to let me know if you're interested. As I get responses, I will post to this thread to list the roles taken.
1.) Start Time: I'd like to begin running the module early in July. As I have a Monday game running already, and my Saturday game has recently folded, I am thinking I would like to hold game sessions on Fridays, to start play around 7:00 PM, Eastern Time. This would be a weekly schedule. Please note, this is a "set in stone" time table. Do not sign up for this game if this is not a workable time for your schedule. I do not want a bunch of "Oh, I want to play, but I can't play until 9:00. Can you make the start time for that?" or "I need to put my kid to bed, so I can't start until 8:00. Can't you start the game at that time instead?" There will be no compromises. I have my own schedule I need to work around, as well, and the time above has been what's worked best for me for some time.
2.) Setting: Though the adventure is not campaign world specific, I will be setting the module in Eberron. A working knowledge of the campaign world is preferred for players signing on to the game.
3.) Allowed Content: I am usually pretty loose as far as what I allow as playable in my games. This, of course, has the tendency to bite me in the ***. That being said, I will allow mostly anything that is available in an OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED source. Meaning, if it's in an official sourcebook, AND I have said sourcebook, it will be allowed. The one caveat to this will be that if I think the character would be too powerful or will outclass or overshadow the other characters, I will exercise veto rights. I have had too much experience with a single player's character, either by design or circumstance, becoming the star of the show. This is a situation I would prefer to avoid.
4.) Content NOT Allowed: No content from magazines, such as Dragon or Dungeon, will be allowed or considered. No homebrew content will be allowed or considered. No varients to class or race will be allowed or considered. There is enough considerable content out there in published sources that it's unnecessary to needlessly complicate things with outside content. Again, this is just coming from experience.
5.) Party Makeup: I would like to keep the total amount of characters to four (4), preferably in a fighter/healer/thief/mage mix. Whether this is one character to a player, or two players playing a couple characters each. Also, I prefer players to be 18 or older. As my games tend to get pretty graphic, I like to gear my games toward a more mature audience. And trust me, I WILL ask.
6.) Contact Info: When signing up for the game, please provide a valid email address. I email all players the day before or the day of the game session with a reminder of the day and time of the next game session. Communcation is key to a successful gamign group, IMO, and it's a tool I use a lot. If players are unable to attend a session, I like to be informed before game time so arrangements can be made for the character to be played by another player, or the character to be made "unavailable" for the session.
7.) Roleplay vs. Hack-n-Slash: This should be further up on the list, but I am writing these in as they occur to me. Much of my games are roleplay heavy. In fact, in looking over the RHoD module, there are many parts that are exclusively roleplay. With that in mind, I ask that only serious players apply. If your game style focuses solely on "hack-n-slash" then my games are not for you. I encourage and award excellent roleplay, so be prepared to act your role.
8.) More on Content: Please, know your characters well. If your character has a paticular skill set that is in any way unusual, please know how it's played, and be prepared to provide the source of the info upon request. If you're pulling some off some strange maneuver granted by a feat, I'd like to be able to ask you for sourcebook and page number of the info and have it provided in a snap. Nothing bogs a game down more than a player having to look for the obscure rule they are employing inorder to provide the DM with that info. I may have virtually every book published, but I don't have them memorized. On a related note, although I think I am a somewhat decent DM, I will admit that there are many things even in the core books that I may be unfamilar with, either by their general obscurity or the fact that I just don't use that particular rule. In past and current games, my players have been gracious enough to clarify a rule that I may not be familar with, which is something I appreciate.
That being said, no rules lawyering, please! If, for whatever reason, I make a decision that may run contrary to the rules as written, please accept that perhaps there is a reason for it, and let it go. I will not argue at length with a player who insists that such and such should be done a certain way. I look at running a game like directing a play, a play that only I know what happens in the next act. Yes, I will roll with the punches and try to adjust the "play" to match the PCs choices and actions, but I will sometimes manipulate things to get the story back on track. I never go so far as to railroad the game play, but I also don't wish to rewrite the adventure entirely because the players have gone so far off course as to make it unplayable as written.
9.) Voice Chat: In the last couple of games I've run/played, we've made use of the Ventrilo voice chat. It has been a great tool in speeding up game play, as most OOC chatter can be done over the microphone, leaving the FG chat to game play solely. Granted this does have the disadvantage of making the chatlog woefully vague for reading back, but I think the gain in expediting things is a tremendous boon to keeping things moving along. Now, I am looking at keeping this option viable for the new game (I don't actually have my own server, but a friend who's server we've been using up to this point has generously offered his server to me for this new game), so please have a mic available to you if you sign on.
10.) Now this should DEFINITELY have been higher up on this list, but it's already too long and I don't feel like renumbering everything. Red Hand of Doom starts with the characters being at 5th level. All characters will be built to 5th level, with adjustment to stats and gear as required. Character gold is of course as allowed by character, based on class, and as stated for the level. I know there are rules for magic items and the max limit any one item can cost for a character at that level. But I don't have my books with me at the moment, so couldn't tell you what that is. Can figure that out later. For ability scores, I usually like to have them rolled, and I like to witness the rolls. However, I will allow either 32-point buy, or blind "4d6-drop-the-lowest" score rolling. I will look over the scores, and if I notice anything unusual, like 18's across the board or an equally unbalanced character build, I will ask the scores to be rerolled, which I WILL witness. Otherwise, go nuts.
Whew! I think that might be it. The above probably seems more like a rant than game info, especially when I compare it to some of the game announcement posts I see on this forum. I suppose that, in a way, it probably is. I have been watching the boards for the last several months, and there have been a multitude of posts regarding the lack of people willing to run games, or the inconsistency with player attendance. I myself have been plagued with players who sign up for games, attend one, and then disappear into the ether without a word. Or the player who starts the game knowing the scheduled time, but is either consistently late or has an alternating schedule, but neglects to mention that when signing on. All this leads to things being unfair to the other players, who now have to run an extra character they had no hand in creating, or wait until another player can be added to the roster. It's frustrating, and it's my hope that by carefully detailing these items in advance, most of these problems can be avoided.
SO! If I haven't lost you by now, or left you thinking I am a total touch-hole, please drop me a PM to let me know if you're interested. As I get responses, I will post to this thread to list the roles taken.